PCEA

JOHN MURRAY WROTE: 'Justification is still the article of a standing or falling church.' (Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Eerdmans Publishing Co, USA, 1955, p. 151.) This truth is fundamental to salvation and should be treasured by all who confess Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Sadly however, a great number of professing Christians have little real understanding of what is taught by this doctrine.

Justification is expounded throughout the Scriptures, but the Letter of Paul to the Romans is the greatest source of teaching on the subject. He taught that a man could be justified only 'through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth to be a propitiation by his blood, through faith ... that he [God] might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus' (Romans 3:24-26).

A great saint of a past generation said of the doctrine of justification as taught in Paul's epistle to the Romans:

'This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.' (Commentary on Romans, Martin Luther, Kregel Publications, USA, 1977, p. xiii.)

The doctrine of justification is revealed throughout the Old Testament, yet is more fully revealed in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the grace of God in forgiving the sins of His people is clearly taught (Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; Jeremiah 31:34; Psalm 32:5).

In addition, imputed righteousness is revealed as being necessary for salvation, is revealed quite plainly (Zechariah 3:4; Jeremiah 23:6).

Both truths are tied together by Daniel (9:24) when he wrote: 'Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness . . .'

Justification in the Old and New Testaments are linked together so clearly in the story of Abraham, the man of faith. Paul wrote of Abraham's faith, stating, '. . . Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness' (Galatians 3:6; c.f. Romans 4:22 and James 2:23, 24).

This comforting doctrine bears testimony to the grace, mercy and justice of our God in relation to lost and guilty sinners.

This fundamental Biblical truth, 'justification through faith alone' became the keynote of the Reformation and has been a central tenet of God's true church till the present day and will continue 'until he comes'.

The Shorter Catechism defines justification as: '. . . an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone' (Question 33).

The doctrine of 'justification' answers the great question faced by sinful mankind: 'How can a guilty sinner be righteous before God?' How is it possible that a sinner, who has offended the eternal, holy God by breaking his perfect law be freed from guilt and condemnation?'

To understand this doctrine we need to visualise the guilty sinner standing before the just Judge. We read in Deuteronomy 25:1 the words of Moses: 'If there is a dispute between men and they come to court that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked . . .' From this passage of Scripture it can be seen that when a judge 'justifies' a man, he simply declares the man to be righteous. Justification is a declaration made about a person.

Justification is a legal act of God in which he pronounces or treats a believing guilty sinner, who has come short of his glory (Rom. 3:23) as being not guilty in His sight, and thus not liable to any penalty because of sin. God pronounces the sinner to be legally righteous in His sight.

The next question that arises is: 'On what basis is it possible for God to be just and yet declare a sinner to be righteous in His sight?'

The answer to this question is found in the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Romans 5:8 declares: 'But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' Again in Psalm 32:1, 2 we read: 'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.'

That the sins of God's people were 'imputed' to the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly taught in Scripture: 'For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.' (2 Corinthians 5:21). Bearing the sins of His people, Christ suffered the wrath of God in their place. Our sins put to his account and Christ was punished as if He were the sinner.

The first point to note is that our sins are pardoned by God - because of the saving work of Christ upon the cross.

Christ was not only the substitute for the guilty sinner upon the cross at Calvary, but he lived a substitutionary life for his people. He lived the life that the sinner should have lived - a life of complete obedience to God. Thus Paul could write: '. . . by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous' (Romans 5:19). And so it is that the perfect righteousness of Christ is put to the account of the repentant, believing sinner. God then looks upon, and treats such a person as if he had never sinned.

So we see that God 'justifies' the sinner (Romans 8:33) on the basis of the work of his only begotten Son. In the court of heaven a transaction takes place when a sinner believes. The transaction is this: 'My sins are imputed to Christ and his righteousness is imputed to me.

Justification then is a once for all time, declaration of God in the court of heaven, that he has forgiven the believer's sins and forevermore will look at the sinner through the righteousness of his Son . . . the righteousness of Christ now covering the believing sinner.

What part then does faith play in justification? Faith is not a good work done by the believer - faith is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8) and is the 'instrument' by which we receive the righteousness of God. Faith is the means by which we receive the blessings of God and by which we praise and worship him.

The role of faith can be illustrated as follows: A girl needs a drink of water; however the tap is far away and she cannot reach it. Someone using a cup brings the precious water to her. Faith is like that cup - given by God - and through faith we are justified. We are not justified because of faith as if faith were a work of man.

What then is the relationship between works and faith in the life of the believer? Well, we are justified 'by faith alone'. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:16: '. . . a man is NOT justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ . . .' The sinner's works play no part in justification, for we read that our works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

Does this then mean that the believer, having exercised faith in Christ can now live like a demon? Not at all! Works of righteousness follow saving faith always. John Calvin put it like this: 'We are justified by faith alone, but the faith which justifies is never alone.'

James wrote (2:26)...

'. . . faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'

Good works are the fruit of saving faith just as Paul wrote (Eph. 2:10): 'For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 'What we are clearly taught is this - if you have saving faith in Christ and thus justified by God, then good works will follow. If the good works do not flow from your confession of faith, such a faith is no better than the 'faith' of the demons who 'believe and tremble' (James 2:19).

Now the saved sinner can rejoice with Paul who wrote: 'There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . .' (Romans 8:1); now as God is at peace with his believing people, spiritual peace floods the Christian's heart (Romans 5:1, 2).

By the grace of God we are able to look beyond our sins to the grace of the God who has eternally accepted us in his beloved Son. We look to the cross of Christ and hear his shout of triumph: 'It is finished!' There we see a Saviour, who became sin for his people, satisfying the demands of the law on their behalf.

Let us live daily the life of faith - with joy in our hearts, knowing that we are justified by faith alone and that in spite of our sins our destiny is heaven, for Christ our Saviour is 'the Lord our righteousness' (Jeremiah 23:6).